Kenneth Rijock

Friday, September 19, 2014

Two Iranians have been detained by the authorities in Kenya; they were carrying forged Israeli passports. Their destination was Israel, via Europe. Their bogus travel documents were copies of the old non-biometric passports. previously-seized forged Israeli passports had misspellings. What their purpose was in travel to Israel is not known, but it is doubtful that these two individuals were engaged in legitimate matters; whether it was terrorism, or some criminal activity, we can only guess. Last year,
one of those arrested with a forged Israeli passport was an Iranian national.

The takeaway from this little lesson; if you have a new prospective international client who is presenting you with one of the old types of passport, you will be well-advised to demand secondary government-issued identification, of the type that you can easily verify. It may even be necessary to inquire at the embassy or consulate of the country where the passport was issued to verify identity to your satisfaction, if you have doubts about the passport. Inquiries with your local law enforcement contacts may also help.

Remember also that a national of a country will be fluent in at least one of that country's official languages, and knowledgeable about its geography. Ask questions during the CIP process, to ascertain whether he or she possesses that language capability, and familiarity with information that a national of that country will have.